Here Comes Everybody
Clay Shirky
A couple of books I have read in the past few years combine to see the post internet world FAR more clearly. A critical topic for so many investors and entrepreneurs. Perhaps you will want to read this first and Yochai Benkler right afterwards. Clay Shirky is perhaps the single best commentator on the Digital Demographic Revolution and in part because he himself is a never satisfied student in his search for models that explain the world. Clay is also a great, interesting writer.
"The increase in the power of both individuals and groups, outside traditional organizational structures, is unprecedented. Many institutions we rely on today will not survive this change without significant alteration, and the more an institution or industry relies on information as its core product, the greater and more complete the change will be. The linking of symetrical participation and amateur production makes this period of change remarkable. Symmetrical participation means that once people have the capacity to receive information, they have the capability to send it as well..."... Clay Shirky, Here Comes Everybody
Uncommon Sense: Out of the Box Thinking for An In the Box World
Peter Cochran
random notes from one of technology's very best minds
The Digital Economy
Don Tapscott
Classic when written and driver of the Internet culture -- described the opportunities users would gain and how their expectations would shift
The Perfect Store
Adam Cohen
Really enjoyable look at the development of Ebay -- one of the exceptions to the genral rule that dot-coms were poorly though out disasters
There Must Be A Pony In Here Somewhere
Kara Swisher
AOL/Time Warner debacle examined
Next
Michael Lewis
Weak follow up to The New New Thing
Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams
Good as a general survey of several changes that are inching there way in. For those of you in the monumental change already there will be little surprising or new. This is a challenge for a writer looking for an audience! The folks who "get" the ideas won't really profit too much and those that don't probably won't be shaken up enough by a $25 book to start writing wikis and the like.
The Nudist on the Late Shift
Po Bronson
Very very very enjoyable look at the extreme life of Silicon Valley in the 90s
The New New Thing
Michael Lewis
Brian candy read that brought a hint of the tech world to millions of readers.
Digital Darwinism
Evan I. Schwartz
Guide on dealing with the changes the Internet brings about… several years later the advice can be ignored.
High St@kes, No Prisoners
Charles H. Ferguson
An entrepreneur discusses going toe-to-toe with industry heavyweights Microsoft and Netscape.
Internet Collapses
Bob Metcalfe
Commentaries from one of the industry's key pundits.
Net Benefit
Wingham Rowan
Aimed to quantifying the positive impacts of the Internet.
Net Gain
John Hagel III, Arthur G. Armstrong
What happens in community development on the Internet.. superb read.
New Rules for the New Economy
Kevin Kelly
Former editor of Wired explains the new world.
TechnoFutures
James Canton, Ph.D.
Cultural change.
The Cluetrain Manifesto
Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger
The "communication revolution" isn't about the tools but rather how a new generation is using the tools and how enterprises are being flattened.
Being Digital
Nicholas Negroponte
What is reeeaaallly going on in society with the technological changes and Internet visions… high profile mid 90s read
Crush It
Gary Vaynerchuk
A sensational book to read right after The Opposable Mind from roger martin... Gary Vaynerchuk discusses a number of the tools to use in building a business from one's deep personal passions here in 2010... His energy may overwhelm you as well as the phrase "crush it" but there is tremendous depth of starting from passion and purpose. This is NOT a get rich quick book.